Page 122 of How to Lose a Pack in 10 Dates

Because it’s not just pain. It’s abandonment. It’s betrayal.

And it’smy fucking fault.

I crouch beside the bed, trying to block out the chaos in my own head, the instinct screaming that I need to fix this, that Ishould’vefixed this days ago.

“Aimee,” I say, forcing my voice to steady. “It’s us. We’re here. You’re safe.”

She lets out a wet, broken laugh that cracks something clean down the middle in me.

“No, you’re not,” she whispers, not looking. “You’re not real. You’re just my brain being cruel again.”

“Shit,” Cam breathes behind me, reappearing with a cold glass of water. His hands are visibly shaking. “She doesn’t even believe we came.”

“She’s delirious,” Jace says hoarsely, kneeling on the other side of the bed. His eyes land on the untouched food, the discarded suppressant bottle, the wreckage of her nest. “She’s been like this… alone.”

Because of us. Because ofme.

Cam reaches out to push the damp hair from her forehead, his touch impossibly gentle.

“Hey, sunshine,” he says softly. “It’s really us. We’re here.”

Her lashes flutter like she’s trying to blink through fog; and then, her deep, dark eyes land on me. She shudders, and every instinct in me is howling to reach out to her. My scent-match. My Omega. And I left her in heat, terrified and alone.

Again.

My throat burns as I force the words out. “I looked at you and saw betrayal when I should’ve seen the truth. I was wrong, Aimee. I wassofucking wrong.”

Her lashes flutter again, catching on tears she doesn’t try to wipe away. They slip free; thick, heavy drops that trail down flushed cheeks and disappear into the mess of blankets and borrowed clothes. She tries to curl away from us, tucking herself deeper into the nest she built in our absence, as if she can make herself vanish.

But she can’t hide her scent.

I feel it in the tight coil of instinct winding in my gut, and judging by the way Cam stiffens beside me and the way Jace swears under his breath and drags a hand through his hair, I’m not the only one drowning in it. I clench my jaw, trying to breathe through it, trying not to lose myself to the pull of it—but it’s hard. Harder still when I catch the way her body trembles.

She’s deep in heat, and we fucking left her to it.

My eyes widen as she gasps; a ragged, broken sound that makes all three of us flinch.

“I need—” she starts, voice high and cracking, then stops herself. Shakes her head like she’s ashamed to even say it.

I inch closer, planting a hand on the mattress for balance.

“Aimee,” I say. “Tell us. Tell me. Whatever it is, we’ll do it. We’ll take care of you. I swear.”

Her eyes lock onto mine, and it kills me: the want, the shame, the fury—

Theneed.

“I don’t want to want you,” she says. “Any of you.”

Cam kneels at the other side of the bed. His hands are gentle, his voice even softer as he lifts the glass to her lips.

“I know,” he murmurs. “But you do. And so do we.”

She drinks. Her hands are too unsteady to hold the glass, her throat working around it like even that takes effort. She whimpers after, her body jolting as though the cold made it worse instead of better, then she buries her face in a shirt again, muffling another broken sound.

“My body…” she chokes out. “It hurts. Everything’s too hot. And it won’t—it won’t stop. I can’t—”

Jace growls, then rips off his hoodie in a rush. It’s clear to see he’s moving on nothing but instinct as he climbs into bed with her. His arms come around her from behind, and she keens at the contact, trying to twist into him, pressing her back against his chest as her scent spikes again.

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